A gas turbine engine generally includes a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. The compressor section progressively increases the pressure of the air entering the gas turbine engine and supplies this compressed air to the combustion section. The compressed air and a fuel (e.g., natural gas) mix within the combustion section before burning in one or more combustion chambers to generate high pressure and high temperature combustion gases. The combustion gases flow from the combustion section into the turbine section where they expand to produce mechanical rotational energy. For example, expansion of the combustion gases in the turbine section may rotate a rotor shaft connected, e.g., to a generator to produce electricity.
The combustion section typically includes a plurality of annularly arranged combustors, each of which receives compressed air from the compressor section. Each combustor generally includes an outer casing, a liner, and a flow sleeve. The outer casing surrounds the combustor and contains the compressed air received from the compressor section therein. The liner is positioned within the casing and defines at least a portion of a combustion chamber. The flow sleeve circumferentially surrounds at least a portion of the liner to define an annular plenum therebetween through which the compressed air may flow before entering the combustion chamber. One or more fuel nozzles supply the fuel to each combustor for mixing with the compressed air therein. This fuel air mixture flows into the combustion chamber where a spark plug or other ignition device may initiate combustion.
In certain configurations having multiple combustors in the combustion section, only some of the combustors may include a spark plug or other ignition device. In this respect, one or more cross-fire tube assemblies may propagate combustion between different combustion chambers. More specifically, each cross-fire tube assembly fluidly couples the combustion chamber in one combustor with the combustion chamber in an adjacent combustor. Accordingly, combustion in one combustion chamber may travel through the cross-fire tube assembly to ignite the fuel air mixture in an adjacent combustion chamber.
In order to facilitate the aforementioned fluid communication, the cross-fire tube assemblies must connect to the liners defining the combustion chambers. Certain combustor maintenance activities (e.g., replacement of the liner) may require that the cross-fire tube assembly be decoupled from the liner. Nevertheless, conventional tools and methods may cause undesirable rotation of the cross-fire tube assembly or a portion thereof during decoupling.